Left Voice

Mitsubishi Motors

On how a Japanese multinational and the ChÃ¡vez government are joining together in order to crush workers’ resistance with brutality

June 23, 2010

Right now, the workers at Mitsubishi continue to be ready to fight. But the blows they had been receiving are unquestionable; the most terrible expression of this was the murder of two workers by the AnzoÃ¡tegui state police on January 29, 2009, after the seizure of the plant that the union led. At that moment, the Minister of Labor, MarÃ­a Cristina Iglesias, shut down the occupation by threatening to use the repressive force of the Guardia Nacional Bolivariana, unless the struggle was ended. Partially defeated, the workers returned to work, carrying out the hardships imposed on them by the company, like the increase of the pace of production and having to make up the hours they had been on strike, among other measures. At the end of August, Mitsubishi began a bosses’ lockout by shutting down all their production lines, with the argument of "violence," "a lack of discipline," and "anarchy," which "a group of workers" was exhibiting, at the same time it was threatening to "close the enterprise." In response, and with the permission of MMC [Mitsubishi], by September, the Ministry of Labor issues a "precautionary" measure against the leadership of the Singetram union, with a decision that prohibits 11 of the union leaders from entering the premises of the enterprise, at the same time that Mitsubishi lays off 157 workers, that brought the enterprise before the Ministry. In February of this year, the fight against the rates of exploitation revived, and, after a two-month standstill, once again the government acted in favor of the enterprise, leaving another 15 workers in the street. In total, 170 workers have been laid off since the beginning of the struggle.

A profitable contract is what "explains" the starting point for defining on which side the government stood, in the workers’ struggle at the Japanese transnational, where Mitsubishi Corporation was promising a "foreign investment" of 80 billion dollars in the next 7 years for exploiting the heavy crude oil from the Orinoco Belt. But, for the "investment," the Japanese imperialist company needed the firm security that its interests would be well guarded in the country, and the government was willing to give it that guarantee: the crushing of the the assembly plant workers’ struggle was the proof.

If the workers of Sanitarios Maracay, who set the enterprise to producing under their own direct management, were defeated by the attacks from the government in agreement with the employers, through repression; in connection with the workers at Mitsubishi, we are facing a clear proof of the true face of the government of ChÃ¡vez, who through his alliance with the Mitsubishi Corporation, decided to deal harsh blows on this conflict, seeking through this lesson, to discipline the advanced workers of the country. The government that demagogically talks about an alleged "anti-imperialism," used all the means in its power to defeat the workers’ struggle and union organization, thus guaranteeing the conditions for hyper-exploitation by the imperialist transnational!

The new episode: the shutdown of February 2010 and a new blow

And the brutal offensive by the multinational Mitsubishi and by the government against the workers is not ceasing. If doubts remained about the role of ChÃ¡vez’ government in the conflict at Mitsubishi, the shutdown begun in February of this year for almost two months came once more to confirm [the government’s offensive]. At the beginning of February, the workers charged that the enterprise was making modifications in the organization of the plant on certain production lines, where the workers were taking turns to avoid occupational sicknesses, besides which, the enterprise had eliminated one of the work shifts. To guarantee the reorganization in the methodology of job rotation, on February 11, the enterprise’s managers took away tools and switched off the equipment in the work areas, immediately causing the suspension of work.

In a threatening manner, the transnational held the workers responsible for the shutdown, once again bringing up the old arguments that "lack of discipline and anarchy continue to be latent." The workers were not making wage demands, but simply that the assembly plant should end violence at work, and that the work rotation scheme be respected and the second shift be restored. To all these demands, the Ministry of Labor, as if it were representing the enterprise, threatened new layoffs, in order to end the demand for rights at work. And, moving from words to action, the Ministry of Labor automatically issued a judgment in favor of MMC, declared the shutdown illegal, and finds that "this measure was caused and promoted by the workers," blaming the workers for the shutdown and ordering them to resume production under the conditions that the enterprise was demanding.

Without wasting any time, the enterprise went on the offensive even more, and, supported by the Ministry’s settlement, sends the workers an official communication, where it explains that when the strike is declared illegal, the enterprise is not obliged to pay reduced wages, nor the night voucher, and it also warns that it will take the necessary actions against the workers. Six days later, on March 17, the Ministry of Labor would issue layoff orders to five workers. A few days afterward, another swipe would come from the Ministry, which now issued 10 new layoffs, for a total of 15 workers laid off. On April 14, defeated once more, the workers returned to work, after a two-month shutdown.

For the broadest solidarity with the Mitsubishi workers! The government is trying to crush the Mitsubishi workers in this way, in order to teach the entire working class [a lesson] and prove its repressive reliability to the transnationals with which it has big deals for the exploitation of oil. Recently, ChÃ¡vez described several transnationals, among them, the Mitsubishi Corporation, as his "allies," during a ceremony in which he handed over 40-year concessions for these firms to exploit the oil belt of the Orinoco. In spite of the blows they have taken, the workers at Mitsubishi have not let down their guard, and they are continuing to resist new assaults by the multinational and the government, that is now trying to buy off the workers, by offering them miserable compensations to give up the struggle. Now more than ever it is important to continue covering this big fight with active solidarity, to continue the struggle for the rehiring of all those laid off, the nationalization of the enterprise without compensation and under workers’ direct management, and for legal action against, and punishment of, those politically, intellectually and materially responsible for the murdered workers, and to participate in all the demonstrations that are planned during June and July.